Chapter 25 - § 25.4 • STATUTORY EMPLOYMENT EXEMPTIONS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 25.4 • STATUTORY EMPLOYMENT EXEMPTIONS

For a variety of reasons related to their distinctive religious character and mission, many churches and other religious organizations require some or all of their employees to subscribe to their religious beliefs. This requirement may reflect a religious command to associate in religious work only with fellow believers, a determination that the organization's religious mission can only be accomplished by individuals who understand and are committed to its distinctive religious views, or a determination that associating only with like-minded believers is a means of expressing the organization's beliefs. In one or more of these respects, faith-based employment by religious organizations does not materially differ from the employment practices of nonreligious organizations that require employees to agree with the organization's "institutional values" or to possess certain skills or knowledge related to the organization's mission and activities.

Civil rights laws generally recognize the distinction between invidious "religious discrimination" by secular employers and acceptable faith-based employment practices by religious employers that are an expression and exercise of their religious beliefs. Accordingly, such laws exempt religious employers from the religious nondiscrimination requirements. However, there are often disputes over the scope of such exemptions.

§ 25.4.1—Federal Title VII Exemptions

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 generally prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of religion. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. However, Title VII exempts religious employers (i.e., religious corporations, associations, educational institutions, or societies) with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on of the employer's activities. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-1(a).

Over the years, the scope of this exemption has been challenged. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was constitutional to apply the religious exemption of Title VII to the "secular" activities of a religious organization. See Corp. of Presiding Bishop v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327 (1987). In that case, a building engineer's employment with a gymnasium owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was terminated because he failed to qualify to visit the church's temples. The employee argued that because his job duties had no specifically religious requirements...